Over 1,000 Queens residents marched through Forest Hills on Saturday, rejecting the idea of executive overreach and declaring that Trump, born in the borough, “is no king.”
The demonstration, dubbed “Queens Says No Kings,” was held on June 14—Trump’s birthday. The rally began in MacDonald Park and culminated in a march to Queens County Criminal Court, with protesters braving steady rain to raise signs, chant slogans and share personal testimonies calling for a renewed defense of democratic norms.
“This is the beginning of a movement to let the world and the American people know they’re not alone,” said Dr. Ida Messana, founder of Let’s Talk Democracy, who helped spearhead the event. “People are stunned. They’re like deer in headlights. They don’t know what hit them. We need to make our voices heard now—before it becomes illegal to speak.”
Saturday’s protest was one of more than 100 coordinated demonstrations nationwide as part of the “No Kings” movement. Organized through NoKings.org, the campaign was described by its organizers as a day of peaceful defiance “from city blocks to small towns, from courthouse steps to community parks.” The June 14 rallies built on the momentum of April’s “Hands Off” movement, which drew millions of Americans into the streets to protest Trump’s continued political influence and attacks on democratic institutions.
In Forest Hills, groups including Jackson Heights Indivisible, the Forest Hills Green Team, Working Families Party, Worth Fighting For, and Central Queens Independent Democrats joined Let’s Talk Democracy in organizing the event. Photographs from the march show demonstrators holding signs such as “Queens Has No Kings,” “No Decrees, No Edicts,” and “Defend the Constitution,” standing shoulder to shoulder under umbrellas as they proceeded down Queens Boulevard.
Messana, whose civic group began meeting in 2016 after a wave of politically induced stress among her patients, said the Forest Hills rally was intentionally held in Trump’s hometown. “There are always marches in Manhattan,” she said. “We wanted to do one in Queens, because it’s his birthplace. Because it’s his birthday. We want to show that people from Queens don’t support monarchy, executive decrees, or military parades in the streets.”
The phrase “No Kings” echoes early American history. In 1776, the Declaration of Independence charged King George III with “absolute tyranny,” and the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1789, intentionally divided government powers and prohibited titles of nobility. Article I, Section 9 explicitly bars the U.S. from granting such titles—part of the Founders’ rejection of monarchy in favor of a democratic republic.
Council Member Lynn Schulman, chair of the Council’s Health Committee and representative of the district, invoked that history during her remarks to the crowd. “Two hundred and fifty years ago, the Continental Army was created to fight the king of England,” Schulman said. “Today, we are once again fighting for our independence—from a man who behaves like a king.”
Schulman also criticized recent federal budget decisions, including what she described as an $80 million sweep from New York City’s accounts meant for hospitals, Medicaid, and homeless services. An additional $100 million, she said, had been cut from the city’s health department budget—moves she likened to “decrees” rather than democratic governance. “But in America, we have no kings,” she said. “New York doesn’t do kings.”
Protests like the one in Forest Hills were also held Saturday across the nation. The coordinated actions were partly in response to what critics have called authoritarian displays, including a planned military parade in Washington, D.C.
The Queens protest also came amid rising tensions over immigration enforcement. Nationwide demonstrations have followed a surge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids, many carried out by masked agents at courthouses. In response to unrest in cities like Los Angeles, Trump has ordered the deployment of 700 active-duty Marines and 4,000 National Guard members—a move that has drawn condemnation from civil rights advocates and elected officials.
Queens experienced a largely peaceful protest, with authorities reporting no arrests in connection with the demonstration. This contrasts with a concurrent rally in Manhattan, where eight individuals were reportedly taken into custody.
“This is about protecting our Constitution. We need to protect our neighbors from raids and insecurity,” Messana said. “We operate by the rule of law—not by decree.”
